House Intel concludes Russian Federation probe interviews

Trump’s onetime campaign manager was the House committee’s final interview. Credit Tasos Katopodis

The House Intelligence Committee's Russian Federation investigation is coming to a close, according to a CNN report published Monday afternoon.

Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, a Republican who is overseeing the House probe, is expected to issue a statement announcing the end of the investigation on Monday, according to CNN.

The Journal notes that, based on interviews with multiple lawmakers and aides on both sides, Republicans and Democrats on the House panel are unlikely to come to a bipartisan conclusion on some of the central questions in the probe, including whether anyone from the Trump campaign worked with Russians to help tip the election in his favor.

Conaway told reporters that he feels the committee has investigated all avenues it needed to probe, and he argued that the panel would not have been able to obtain the information Democrats were seeking had they gone the route of subpoenaing witnesses or trying to hold them in contempt. Republicans would likely accuse Democrats of partisanship if the Russian Federation investigation was reopened.

"We disagree with the Intelligence Community's position that Putin favored Trump", Conaway told Fox News Monday. He said that the report would likely not be released to the public before April. It is expected that the GOP will say there is no collusion while Democrats will say they need more subpoenas.

In addition to subpoenas and witnesses, Democrats have long raised issues about looking into Trump's finances, something the committee had not probed.

The committee's traditional bipartisanship began unraveling in the spring of past year, when Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., took a secret trip to White House grounds to review information gathered by unnamed sources purporting to show that President Trump was under surveillance by the Obama administration during the 2016 campaign.

Schiff said Republicans have also refused Democrats' requests to subpoena vital documents, including financial and communications records that could verify or refute witness testimony. Those interviewed over the course of the investigation include prominent members of the Trump campaign: former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, son Donald Trump, Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former senior strategist Steve Bannon. Once Manafort was indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, the committee decided not to call him for an interview.

"The report's completion will signify the closure of one chapter in the Committee's robust oversight of the threat posed by Moscow-which began well before the investigation and will continue thereafter", Conaway said.

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